Messages - Sixtopia

One of my old roommates in college was a big fan of manga and knew I liked anime, so he would often suggest shows to me that I normally wouldn't know of. He told me about Berserk and suggested I watch the '97 anime, which I watched in 2015. This was my first introduction to the series. I really liked the anime but wanted to know what happened after. Around the time I finished the anime, the announcement came out for the 2016 adaptation, which I was ecstatic about. I watched it when it came out but wasn't a huge fan due to the presentation and choice of 3DCG.

While the 2017 adaptation/second season was airing, another friend from college was always recommending I read the manga, which I finally did about halfway through the season after stumbling upon a local anime/manga shop. After picking up the first few Dark Horse volumes, I was hooked. I made a weekly routine to run to this store and pick up a few more volumes every weekend until I was caught up, about 2 months ago. The same friend recommended I listen to the SkullKast, where I eventually got into SK.net. Now I'm re-reading the manga from start to finish.

PS: It's very weird listening through the SkullKast episodes and hearing about the guys' life events (new kids, marriages, etc) from 5 or so years ago. They're like little time capsules.

I actually use voices from other media (mainly video games) to fit the characters in Berserk while reading. It's more of a subconscious thing; looking at these characters, building my own interpretation of their personalities, and matching them to characters in video games. Their voices mostly come from Dota 2. For those who are familiar with the heroes in that game, here are some of the voices I match to characters in Berserk: Raksas - Weaver, Count - Earthshaker, Daiba - KotL, Skull Knight - Faceless Void.

There are many possibilities. Of course, there are tons of threads on this subject, but here are a few of the things I've been thinking about lately.

Puck's affinity for that Beherit is probably going to play a role. I don't think Miura would have reinforced the connection between those two merely for comedic effect. Something we've been talking about on the podcast for the past year or so, is that Puck's proximity to the Beherit over the years could have changed its nature in some way. The foundation for that could barytes, which have no affinity with elves, but seem to have an affinity with darkness/depression/obsession, perhaps the traces of another force at work in the Berserk universe. But we're still too far from a revelation on that front to say for sure.

Beyond that, Skull Knight may not be the only one to have used Beherits in an alternative way. There could be others. Furthermore, Beherits were recently introduced as a way to open the road of dragons, connected to a deep part of the astral world (the abyss). Perhaps Miura has ideas for exploring that a little further.

Ah I completely forgot about the Road of Dragons. I also never considered Puck's attachment to his "betchi" to have significance (I'm only at episode 20 of the podcast, still working my way up). Though as I'm re-reading through the manga, it's clear Puck's been drawn to Beherits from the start.

To piggy-back off what Aaz said, a Beherit is not something you use. It is not a tool. Flora says this in Volume 24, episode "Magic Stone". Here are some of quotes of Flora in this episode: "You think this is something that can be used if only you find the means, but it is not ... When the time is right, it will be in the hands of the person to whom it belongs ... And it is certain to be at the very moment that the owner craves their [The Godhand] power." With my very limited knowledge of Berserk, there are only two outcomes: Guts will lose the beherit prior to a big event involving the Godhand, or Skull Knight will make use of it as he does.

That's awesome! Will definitely pick these up eventually as backups. I love seeing companies making efforts to stay relevant in the digital age. Just to add to this, the digital version of the manga is also available directly from Dark Horse here:

It appears you access these versions through DRM via Dark Horse's web viewer or iOS/Android apps. It would be even better if the physical Dark Horse prints came with codes to unlock the digital versions, though I'm happy enough with this.

Picked up Gears of War 4 on sale a few months ago and just got around to playing it now. I've started to adopt the "patient gamer" mentality, waiting ~6+ months after a games release before buying it. Let the hype die down and look at a game for what it is, get it cheaper and sometimes with the DLC included.

Nier: Automata. I just finished my first playthrough (Ending A of like, 26). Really not impressed. I've heard I have to experience at least two more endings before I GET IT. So uh, I guess I'll do that? Seems like a very poorly constructed game, to me.

I didn't think Nier: Automata was all too great and I got all the story endings. I thought parts of the world and some of the characters were interesting but I didn't like the gameplay itself, especially the combat. Some of the side quests were pretty silly, which was nice.

They only make the last few issues of the magazines available for purchase at any given time, so basically you have to get them when they're out because once they're gone, they're gone (however you do keep those you've bought indefinitely). For the volumes it's a bit more complicated. Hakusensha is trying to spare its print business despite having a digital store, so the releases are always delayed and there's no guarantees for its availability that I'm aware of. Could be next week, could be in six months.

Personally I buy the physical volumes from cdjapan.co.jp. It's cheap, fast and reliable.

Gotcha, I may just buy volume 39 from CDJapan then. I'm figuring the Dark Horse version will be out this winter the earliest so that's my best bet. I've used CDJapan before for other things so I trust them. Also it's strange that it's cheaper to import the volume from Japan, including shipping, than buying the English volumes here.

Does anyone know how long it typically takes for new volumes to be available digitally? I've been looking to purchase the episodes that were released after volume 38, though only the most recent few issues of Young Animal are available to purchase on this website. Considering volume 39 was released a few weeks back in Japan, I'm hoping I'll soon be able to buy this digitally. Also, thank you Aaz for making this guide. It really helped me figure out how to buy the Young Animal issue with episode 351!

The landscape isn't actually that dark in the original color picture. The sky is cloudy but there is a bluish light over the scenery.

Ah, I've only read the Dark Horse prints which don't include any colored panels. I looked up the original panel online and it all makes sense now; it looks much darker in grayscale. I believe it is twilight/dusk at that point in time so the scene is darker overall than usual.

Hi everyone, new member here! I recently finished reading Berserk for the first time and have just started re-reading it. I've also started listening to the SkullKast from the beginning where the admins always discuss details that can only really be noticed having re-read the manga. With this in mind, I'm starting to pay closer attention to the themes and symbolism that can be found throughout the series. I searched the forum and couldn't find a topic about this, so here it goes.

Something that caught my attention early on was the white dove that Puck rides on when he was looking for Guts at the beginning of the episode "The Brand". The panel at the top of page 98 shows the white silhouette of the bird against a dark landscape. This scene becomes very common later on when depicting The Hawk of Light in the dreams of the Midlanders when the Kushan waged war against them. I'm wondering what is the significance in displaying this scene with Puck as such? I don't think it's necessarily a connection to The Hawk of Light, but I feel there's no reason in drawing the scene this way unless there is some underlying meaning to it.